03 April 2013

Blazing Saddles... in 1965?

Inspiration... it can come from the darndest places. Having said that, I reckon we're all products of our culture and times. Mel Brooks, who is featured in the new issue of M, might well have seen this cartoon byRowland Wilson in a 1965 Esquire. Only a year after marrying Anne Bancroft... I like to think Anne pointed it out to him.

Brooks breaks the fourth wall in 1974's Blazing Sadlles with a final fight scene kicked off by a Busby Berkeley musical number called the 'French Mistake.' I assume you know what theFrench Mistake is but I also assume you've seen Blazing Saddles. I could easily be wrong onboth counts.